Replies to This Discussion

Anthony, re: Saturday Reply, "The history ..." I wish religion were the beneficial institution we believe it is; Wishing doesn't make it so.
Yours is a powerfully statement based on historical records and consequences to the Earth based on religion's history. I'm tired of being timid and oblique as we try to soften our criticism of religion. Being evasive when dealing with such facts gets us nowhere, even as silence gets us nowhere. Real change comes when people speak their truth. We may be wrong ... on the other hand, we may be describing accurately the impact of religion on individuals, communities and the Earth. Which do think we are: wrong or right?
How do you want me to attribute your piece, to "Anthony Jordan " or something else?

Anthony, your statement, "Christians, for example, are mandated (supposedly) by Jesus to spread the gospel everywhere,..." is my problem. They have the right and responsibility to believe as they do and I have absolutely no interest in stopping them in their practice. I most vigorously reject their mandate and find them at best nuisances, at worst tyrants.

"Anthony, your statement, "Christians, for example, are mandated (supposedly) by Jesus to spread the gospel everywhere,..." is my problem. They have the right and responsibility to believe as they do and I have absolutely no interest in stopping them in their practice. I most vigorously reject their mandate and find them at best nuisances, at worst tyrants."

I agree. But when they come to my door thinking they have a right to try to convert me to their way of thinking I figure that gives me the equal right to try to convert them to my way of thinking, which usually keeps them from coming back for a second dose.

Anthony, absolutely!!! " I figure that gives me the equal right to try to convert them to my way of thinking," If one has time or energy, it makes a great opportunity to state your position. I wonder if any of them hears us?

Yes, alcohol should be abolished. It's one of the top killers, of the one who imbibes and his potential victims when he gets behind a wheel, or kills his wife with a gun in a drunken argument if he's an abusive husband.

Yes, some forms at least, of pornography should be abolished. I'm sure you can think of some kinds that ought to be abolished.

Personally I'm not for abolishing religion myself, at least not altogether. But I do think it should be left at home and in Church, and not forced onto the rest of us.

@Anthony Jordan, I rather enjoy it when religious come to my door because it gives me an opportunity to define why I think they are wrong, foolish, illiterate, illogical, dispassionate, and evil. Furthermore, missionaries hold the winner's cup for being obnoxious. There is no respect in respecting those who are not respecting me. There is no honor in honoring those who dishonor me. Any child who is told of a father being willing to kill his own son in obedience to his god is a victim of abuse, even if the knife did not plunge into his body.
Any adult who is told he or she will burn in eternal damnation if he or she does not accept some unseeable and un-hearable being as savior is a victim of tyranny.
Disgust is the closest I can muster to being civil to such a person.

Abolish sounds too aggressive even considering all the harm religion has done. It would be much better to see it "melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew." The Buddhist notion that people are on different places on the path to enlightenment and that you must start where you are and work forward has a greater appeal. It will take a very long time, but the results will be more likely to last. In Europe religion has all but vanished from the large cities and to some extent that is true in the U.S. What is happening right now is progress—people like Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, and others writing books and speaking out.

The most important effort at the moment is to prevent religion from intruding on personal freedoms and increasing its political influence.